Why doesn’t South America get cyclones?

dv said:

Why doesn’t South America get cyclones?

No idea?

Thanks.

dv said:

Why doesn’t South America get cyclones?

it does, but just not often…

http://www.aoml.noaa.gov/hrd/tcfaq/G6.html

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_South_America_tropical_cyclones

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cyclone_Catarina

From D-S’s link:

“But this still leaves the question of why hurricanes are so rare in the South Atlantic. Though many people might speculate that the sea surface temperatures are too cold, the primary reasons that the South Atlantic Ocean gets few tropical cyclones are that the tropospheric (near surface to 200mb) vertical wind shear is much too strong and there is typically no inter-tropical convergence zone (ITCZ) over the ocean (Gray 1968). Without an ITCZ to provide synoptic vorticity and convergence (i.e. large scale spin and thunderstorm activity) as well as having strong wind shear, it becomes very difficult to nearly impossible to have genesis of tropical cyclones. Penn State University offers a write up on the South Atlantic hurricane here.”

Interesting.

(near surface to 200mb)

what’s mb? millibars?

“https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_South_America_tropical_cyclones”

Those are northern hemisphere hurricanes that grazed Venezuela. I suppose I should have been more specific.

There seems to have been only one recorded incidence of a southern hemisphere cyclone crossing into South America, which is the other you refer to https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cyclone_Catarina.

dv said:

“https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_South_America_tropical_cyclones”

Those are northern hemisphere hurricanes that grazed Venezuela. I suppose I should have been more specific.

There seems to have been only one recorded incidence of a southern hemisphere cyclone crossing into South America, which is the other you refer to https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cyclone_Catarina.

yup. That’s why I put both links together.

I’d also suggest that the Andes mountain range and the long narrow shape of the South American continent have some influence as well.

diddly-squat said:

I’d also suggest that the Andes mountain range and the long narrow shape of the South American continent have some influence as well.

most likely.

roughbarked said:

diddly-squat said:

I’d also suggest that the Andes mountain range and the long narrow shape of the South American continent have some influence as well.

most likely.

I’d say it is the major reason. Mountains that size and length break larger weather patterns up and also deflect weather.

All recorded cyclone/typhoon/hurricane tracks:

Kingy said:

All recorded cyclone/typhoon/hurricane tracks:

awesome.

Excellent work, Kingy

dv said:

Excellent work, Kingy

+1

Not much around Africa either.

Kingy said:

All recorded cyclone/typhoon/hurricane tracks:

Some interesting outliers there. Like the one that slid down from the gulf and tried to wipe out Tasmania.

Some interesting outliers there. Like the one that slid down from the gulf and tried to wipe out Tasmania.
—

And how about those overachievers that made it to Scandinavia?

I had this as my desktop for a year or so.

Warning: BIG image(6mb)

http://catastropherd.files.wordpress.com/2009/09/090912_wikipedia_global_tropical_cyclone_tracks-edit2.jpg